


Swimming in Stars

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: M/M, flangst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-04 23:08:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16798882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Ydris takes Daine back to a place where he'd once feared to go. Daine belongs to HellishSam.





	Swimming in Stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HellishSam](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HellishSam/gifts).



Being Ydris' fiance, Daine decided, was nice. Very nice indeed. Now, when he woke up from his nightmares, he had that crystal hanging around his neck, resting against his heart (once he sat up and pulled it back to its proper place on the chain, anyway), to remind him of Ydris' love and devotion towards him. Clutching it helped to calm him down, helped to ground him again. That and Ydris being always at his back, always willing to wrap his arms around Daine, always willing to kiss him and hold him and take him away until he felt sane again.

But that wasn't the only reason for Ydris to take Daine away in one of his illusions. Sometimes, Ydris just did it to do something nice for his fiance. He always had, even back when they'd been dating, before they'd gotten this serious. And it was nice, to not only associate the illusions, those wonderful things that were made of pure magic but felt as real as the sun of Jorvik, with nightmares and anxiety and stress. And Ydris was always so nonchalant about taking Daine away. Like right now, for example.

A rare smile (though less rare these days, thankfully) graced Daine's lips as he scrolled through the photo gallery in his phone. There were the usual couple pictures (and selfies), a few shots of himself and his horses (mostly Cloud and Tyler, who both had an odd aura about them to Ydris' eye, though Ydris had yet to tell his fiance about this latter), of course a few less PG pictures, and a lot of group photos. Seeing this smile, especially the way that Daine lingered over one of these group photos, Ydris approached his fiance from where he'd been watching Cloud play peekaboo with a young Welsh pony foal with his wings.

"A penny for your thoughts, my phoenix?" Ydris asked, leaning against the fence that Daine leaned against. Daine looked up, his hair falling away from his face. For once, he hadn't put his hair up while he worked, though it wasn't too hot today.

"Just memories," said Daine with a shrug, angling the phone so that Ydris could see the photo. It was a group shot of some of Daine's friends and their horses standing in what looked to be, for all the world, a pool of stars. Or glitter jelly, depending on the way one looked at it or thought about it.

"Was it truly a pool of stars?" Ydris asked, his voice hushed with awe. Daine looked at him, unable to help a laugh at the look of sheer wonderment on Ydris' face.

"No, it just looked like that," said Daine. "At sunset and night, anyway. Since it was so high up, I guess. In the clouds." Cloud's ear twitched, but he was far too into his game with the foal.

"And being this high up did not scare you?" Ydris asked, worry making his words a little tighter.

"Well, being that high up alone didn't," said Daine, shrugging. "I was too scared to get in, though."

"Ah, so you never truly knew the feeling of swimming in stars," said Ydris.

"No," said Daine, his lips pursed slightly. "Fucking anxiety." In an instant, Daine felt the tingle of magic, and a purple silk blindfold appeared in Ydris' left hand.

"Shall I take you back there, my phoenix?" Ydris asked. Daine looked at the blindfold, heart picking up speed at the promise in Ydris' voice.

"I mean, yeah, if you want," said Daine.

"Would you like to go back?" Ydris asked. Daine looked at the photo again, remembering how much fun it had been to watch his friends swimming in the star-speckled water. How magical it had looked. Back then, Daine had used the excuse of not wanting to evaporate the water thanks to his magic-induced heat, but the truth had been that he'd just been too damn scared to risk it. Sure, the clouds had been thick enough to stand on, and his friends had been fine in the rainwater pool, but Daine had been terrified of swimming ever since that accident on that damn frozen lake in Dino. The very idea of it had threatened to leave him frozen in fear, but of course, he'd just made some excuse about drying up the pool and sat to the side with Cloud to take photos and videos of his friends.

"Yeah," said Daine at last, his voice quiet. "I'd love that." He felt a brush of fabric against his right hand as Ydris placed the blindfold there, and then Daine looked up at his fiance with a small, true smile from his heart before he stood.

It was always easier to travel to these illusions inside, preferably in bed, due to the near-catatonic state that Daine went into while Ydris weaved his magic. He remembered when that magic had hurt the scar, when it had been there. But now, the tingle of the magic only made Daine's skin tingle and nothing more as he laid down on the bed, comfortably curling his body into his fiance's, and donned the blindfold.

One moment, Daine was on the bed with Ydris, the distant sounds of horses coming to him on the cool South Hoof breeze. The next, he was back in that starry pool, dressed in-

"Really?" Daine asked, raising an eyebrow at his fiance after removing the blindfold with his clawed hands. Not only was he not wearing a single stitch of clothing, the two of them were also in their Pandorian forms.

"Well, what can I say?" said Ydris, shrugging. His fangs poked out as he grinned. "I do so enjoy seeing you in this form."

For once, Daine didn't make any further note of this. Instead, he only stared at the glittering water that surrounded them. He remembered Louisa commenting that it looked like glitter jelly and the clouds like meringues, after which Mica had sent her little frog Pico to keep an eye on her to ensure that she wouldn't eat any of the cloudstuff. Now, Daine ran his hand through the water, amazed at the way that the stars swirled around his fingers as though they were glitter. They made even his claws look beautiful.

Though Daine was pretty certain that the stars in the pool had in reality just been a reflection of the stars in the sky, he wasn't complaining at all that Ydris had used his magic to enhance this. The water didn't even really feel like water- there was no temperature to it, almost as though Daine were moving his hand through the air itself. Or through space. His heart ached, for a moment, at memories of a childhood dream being brutally crushed under the harsh reality of life. He'd hidden his love of space since then. His wings showed it now, though, proudly displaying a galaxy for all to see. He'd cried, the first time that he'd seen that. He was almost crying again now, standing in water deep enough that it reached his shoulders so that only the tops poked out. He probably looked stupid, dragging his hands through the water and crying, but he didn't care. Nor did Ydris as he gently cupped Daine's face in his clawed hands and pulled him closer for a kiss, Daine's feet almost stumbling over the uneven surface of the cloudy floor. At least it was solid.

"Why are you sad, l'amour?" Ydris asked, his hands encircling Daine's waist.

"I'm not," said Daine, his voice rough with emotion. "I'm just-" He broke off, trying to think of the words. "I'm just so happy." And he was. Up here, in this pool of water far deeper than anything he'd dared tried swimming in up until now, he felt perfectly safe. Maybe it was because he knew that Ydris, at least, would be able to catch him and fly away if they did fall. Ydris' bat-like wings wouldn't have the same weakness for water that Daine's feathered ones did, wouldn't get waterlogged. Daine had always felt safe with Ydris, even when the others had told him not to.

"I am glad, my phoenix," said Ydris, his smile as warm as anything. As warm as the crystal that still rested against Daine's chest. Daine kissed him again, leaning into Ydris' embrace. With his Pandorian form's tongue, it couldn't be as passionate as Daine would have given his fiance, but that didn't matter. Slow, gentle kisses of breath and just barely brushing tongues were enough for now. And far easier to pull away from, when Ydris took a step back and kicked off of the bottom of the pool so that he could swim. For a moment, Daine was scared of making a fool of himself, of losing the necklace, of drowning. But then, Ydris beckoned him forward with a gesture of his deep purple fingers, and Daine swam towards him willingly.

They could really only paddle around the pool, but that was just fine by Daine. He could still see the stars swimming by them, washed aside in their wake, beneath him and around him. On a whim, Daine spread his wings out, the stars in his wings mingling with the stars in the water.

"I cannot tell where the stars in the pool begin and where your wings end, my phoenix," said Ydris. Daine laughed, blushing a little at the compliment. He almost wanted to ask Ydris to take a photo of it, but he knew that this wouldn't be their last time here. If only because Daine felt so happy, and he knew that Ydris could see that.

"I can," said Daine. "You're lucky you don't have feathered wings, y'know, you shed everywhere and good fucking luck preening them and getting the water out of them."

"Ah, but it is worth it to be able to wear one of your wondrous feathers in my hat," said Ydris. "And I do so love the sight of them coating the floor of my wagon. Finding them in your clothing." Daine shut up at that, knowing that his cheeks were turning red from the heat in them. "However, I will make things just a little easier for you."

In an instant, the water disappeared. Daine's heart seemed to drop to his feet as the feeling of the water, even the clouds around them, vanished, leaving the two of them floating in a starscape. It was almost like the place that Ydris had brought Daine to the first time that he'd shown his Pandorian form to his then-boyfriend, only now, the stars still swirled around them. All around them now, above and below and on all sides. Even between them. His heart racing, Daine searched for something, anything, to cling onto, his anxiety building until his arms found Ydris and crushed him tightly to his body. Daine trembled, closing his eyes against the rising anxiety.

"Too much?" Ydris asked. The words were casual, but his tone was tense with anxiety over potentially upsetting his fiance. Another alteration of the illusion created a solid surface for Daine to stand on, though Daine still trembled, his furred ears pressed flat to his head, almost disappearing into his curly black hair.

"Yeah," said Daine, his voice shaking while his eyes were still squeezed shut. A few tears made tracks through the fur on his face. "Just a tad."

"My phoenix, I am so sorry," said Ydris, clutching Daine's face. "I never meant to alarm you, only to allow you to really swim in the stars." Seeing how tense Daine looked, how his shoulders shook and he couldn't quite seem to move from his position clinging to Ydris, Ydris felt his heart break. They'd been together for months, he'd pledged to devote his life to this man before him, and yet still, his inexperience showed, his lack of knowledge when it came to human emotions.

"No, I'm sorry, my stupid anxiety ruined everything again," said Daine. There was a bite of anger in his voice, in the sudden lash of his tail, but Ydris knew that the anger was directed at Daine, or at his anxiety.

"No, your emotions are never stupid," said Ydris. "I was the fool who pushed you before you were ready."

"But it's been months, I should be over it," said Daine, finally opening his eyes. His breath caught in his throat at the sight that his sunset eyes revealed. The stars in his eyes weren't just the ones that appeared at dusk, not anymore.

"Daniel?" Ydris asked as Daine silently stepped away from him, taking a few steps out into the starscape. Stars glittered all around him, winking just as the ones in his wings, in his eyes, did. Daine took in the sight silently, his breath caught in his throat. He held his hand out in front of him, watching the stars float through his outstretched fingers. It was like being in that starry pool, underwater where he never dared to go. But Daine could still breathe. He knew it as he took in a gulp of air, imagining that he was inhaling stars. But if he was, they didn't choke him. Didn't even tickle his throat.

"Now, this is pretty," said Daine as he grinned over his shoulder at his fiance, dipping a wing down so that he could see Ydris' perplexed expression. His grin turned playful, eyes twinkling, a moment before he leaped into the air with a flap of his wings and began to soar among the stars.

It only took a few moments for Ydris to join him, flapping his much larger wings to reach the height where his fiance flew. Daine looked positively delighted, a grin splitting his face.

"I love seeing you like this, my phoenix," said Ydris, his fangs showing in a grin of his own.

"Thanks for drying my wings, by the way," said Daine. His hair was still wet, as was his fur, so he knew that he'd still been swimming. And yet, every single feather on his body, even the ones on his chest, was dry.

"I do pay attention, you know," said Ydris, trying to ignore his mind telling him that he didn't pay attention when it counted. Daine only smiled at him and moved in closer for a brief kiss before they parted to prevent their wings from becoming tangled.

"Do you think we could go flying together one night?" Daine asked on a whim. Ordinarily, he knew, he would have needed to raise his voice for his fiance to be able to hear him. But, here in this illusion, with stars glittering in the air everywhere (even on the ground, which still looked solid thanks to a particular sheen that settled Daine's nerves), they could hear each other perfectly.

"It won't be like this, I'm afraid," said Ydris.

"I know," said Daine. "Real stars don't work like that. But would you? If we could, I mean." Daine so rarely suggested outlandish things like this, though he'd started to suggest other things since Ydris had moved in with him. Visiting the distant locales of Dino Valley and Mistfall, to name a few.

"My phoenix, I would go anywhere and do anything with you," said Ydris. And he meant it. His love for Daine gave him the courage to do things that he wouldn't have had the courage to do otherwise. Get engaged, for one thing. Daine's eyes burned just a little brighter, and this time, Ydris knew that the tears were ones of happiness.

"Thank you," said Daine. "I think I'll fly this anxiety off now."

"Would you like me to follow?" Ydris asked, ignoring the bite of hurt that Daine's words had (probably unintentionally) caused.

"If you think you can catch me," said Daine. He flashed a cheeky grin to Ydris before he took off, his wings blending in with the starscape so that it almost seemed like he was simply swimming among the stars. Just like he had wanted, all those months ago when he'd visited a place in the clouds.


End file.
